Sealing strip for bottoms of vehicle bodies



March 11, 1930. w. A. MAYES 0,

SEALING STRIP FOR BOTTOMS OF VEHICLE-BODIES File d July 18. 1927 INVENTOR. MzlterAMayes A TTORNEYS Patented Mar. 11, 1930 UNITED STATES PATENT orrlcs WALTER A. MAYES, OF YORK, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO MARTIN-PARRY CORPO- RATION, OF YORK, PENNSYLVANIA, A CORPORATION OF PENNSYLVANIA SEALING STRIP FOR BOTTOMS OF VEHICLE BODIES Application filed July 18,

This invention relates to improvements in vehicle bodies of the commercial type.

The object of the invention is to provide a sealing strap, or what is termed in the trade as a floor strip, to be used in connection with the bottom boards of commercial vehicle bodies to seal the spaces therebetween and at the same time to permit the boards to have sufiicient freedom to weave without disturbing the operation of the sealing strip.

More specifically, the invention comprises a sealing strip or floor strap which is made of sheet metal and which comprises a vertical extension adapted to be secured to one edge and a horizontal extending portion extending over the space between the floor boards and having as a continuation thereof a rebent longitudinal corrugated portion extending beyond the vertical attaching portion and provided with a down-turned lip for engaging the floor board.

Numerous other inherent advantages of the invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art from a reading of the following specification in which Fig. 1 represents a top plan view of the bottom of a commercial vehicle body showing the floor boards with the sealing devices attached thereto;

Fig. 2 is a sectional view of a pair only of the floor boards and having the interposed. sealing strip associated therewith, and

Fig. 3 is a detailed view of the strip before it has been attached to the floor board.

Fig. 4 is a cross sectional view of the strip.

Referring now more particularly to the drawings, wherein like reference characters represent corresponding parts, the numeral 1 designates a commercial vehicle body which may be of any well known type. This body is provided with longitudinally extending floor boards 2. In this type of body, the fioor boards are spaced from one another and the invention comprises a sealing device or floor strap to prevent the escape of materials from for confines of the body and the ingress of foreign materials therein. To this end, I provide a vertical extension 3 having a horizontal portion 4 and a returned bent portion 5. The

returned portion is provided with a series of 1927. Serial No. 206,620.

longitudinally extending corrugations 7 and a downwardly extending lip 8 engaging one of the floor boards. Normally the vertical attaching portion 3 extends at an acute angle with respect to the horizontal sealing portion 4 as shown in Fig. 4:. However, when the device is applied to the body this angular forma tion causes the horizontal extension to very tightly engage the adjacent floor board where it is yieldably held in position.

The returned bent corrugated portion 7 extends in a horizontal direction and the convex parts 8 of the corrugations abnttingly engage the upper ends of the horizontal sealing portion 4: at each side of the space existing between the fioor boards as fully shown in Fig. 2. The floor strap or sealing strip above clescribed may be employed with the bottoms of commercial bodies without any modification of the floor boards and is capable of permitting weaving and expansion or contraction of the boards within certain set limits. The attachment may be also applied to bottoms having variant degrees of spaces between the floor boards. It will be observed that the horizontal extension 4 completely covers the space between the fioor boards and is maintained yieldably or tightly in engagement with the adjacent floor board due to the fact that the vertical extension 3 is normally at an acute angle before its application to the floor board after which it is forced into a right angle position, thus firmly urging the horizontal extension downwardly. The returned bent horizontally extending portion. 5 spans the crevice between the floor boards and overlies the vertical extension, and the convex portions of the corrugations of the returned bent extension tightly engage the portion 4 and tend to firmly maintain it in position but permitting the necessary expansion and contraction of the floor boards and the weaving thereof without breaking the sealing effect of the attachment.

VHaving thus described the invention, what I claim is:

In a vehicle body, the combination with a bottom composed of'a series of spaced apart floor boards, a sealing device having a vertical portion engaging the edge of one of said floor boards, a horizontal extension spanning the space between such floor boards and resiliently engaging the upper surface of the adjacent board, a returned bent portion overlying the horizontal and Vertical portions aforesaid, said returned bent portion having corrugations formed therein and the convex portions of which engage the horizontal extension at points on each side of the space between said floor boards.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature.

WALTER A. MAYES. 

